Before Class, Chapter 2 & 3

As we learned in the previous chapter, early writing/visual language systems consisted mainly of hieroglyphs, cuneiform, and pictographs. As time went on, the invention of the alphabet was born and was an important step in communication. Although there is no proof of who actually invented the alphabet, there are a few sources. Experts say cuneiform, hieroglyphs, early Cretan pictographs, and prehistoric geometric shapes all contributed to the origin of the alphabet. Experts also say the Northwest Semitic people (Phoenicians) are believed to be a huge source of the origin of the alphabet. North Semitic writing was what these early people referred to as the alphabetic writing that was found throughout this community. Early scripts that were recovered from the ancient Phoenicia culture reveal an alphabet called the Phoenician alphabet made by these people. North Semitic writing is believed to be the beginning of the alphabet but as time went on, more alphabets were being produced and branching off in different directions. The Phoenician alphabet was later evolved in Greece and Rome and the Aramaic alphabet (an alphabet that was dominant in the Middle East) was later used for Arabic and Hebrew writing.

The Phoenician alphabet was adopted by the ancient Greeks. The Greeks changed around some things. They transformed five consonants to vowels. The Greeks also converted the Phoenician characters into art forms. Another thing the Greeks changed was the Phoenician writing style. The Phoenicians used to write right to left, but the Greeks eventually started to write left to right, which is the writing style we use everyday. The Greek's and its alphabet influenced the whole world and played an important role in the alphabet system even today.

The Latin alphabet evolved from the Greek alphabet and came to the Romans from Greece during the sixth century. The Latin alphabet only consisted of 21 letters, but after following the Roman conquest of Greece, the Greek letters Y and Z were then added to the alphabet. Then, three additional letters were added to the alphabet during the Middle Ages and those three letters were J, U, and W. This alphabet was widely spread in the Western world and became the design for visible languages.

The Korean alphabet was introduced by the Korean monarch Sejong. Hangul is what the Korean alphabet is called. It is very scientific, in fact one of the most scientific writing methods to ever be invented. Sejong produced an alphabet of 14 consonants and 10 vowel signs to help aid the communication between the Korean citizens. The Hangul alphabet is much different than the Greek and Roman alphabets. One example is how the sequence of the alphabet is written. Hangul is not written in a linear sequence. Instead, the letters are combined in an imaginary rectangle to form syllabic blocks. Syllables are then made by combining a consonant and a vowel. Seeing this alphabet in the book really gave me a good visual aid to see how this is done.

Asian's contribution must never be underestimated. The Chinese writing system is a visual language an it aided the evolution of visual communication. Chinese calligraphy is definitely more artsy than the other alphabets we have seen. There were phases that occurred during the evolution of Chinese calligraphy. The earliest was chiaku-wen (bone-and-shell script). The next phase was chin-wen (bronze script) and the final step was chen-shu (regular style). China also invented paper, which was much easier to write on than bamboo slates or wooden stripes that were once used. Printing was another important invention, again produced by the Chinese. With the help of these two important inventions, communicating was much easier for the Chinese. Luckily, these inventions spread westward, eventually ending up in Europe.

After reading these chapters, one fact that I learned was how the alphabet came about. It is very interesting to see how the alphabet we all know today was evolved throughout the centuries. A lot of regions contributed to make this alphabet. Alphabets bound communities together, thus making it much easier for everyone to communicate. Without it, it would be very difficult to understand one another.